Abstract: American artist, poet, writer, publisher, composer, and educator. The archive contains papers collected or generated by Higgins,
documenting his involvement with Fluxus and happenings, pattern and concrete poetry, new music, and small press publishing
from 1972 to 1994, with some letters dated as early as 1960.

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Language: Collection material is in
English

Biographical/Historical Note

Dick Higgins is known for his extensive literary, artistic and theoretical activities. Along with his writings in poetry,
theory and scholarship, Higgins published the well-known Something Else Press and was a cooperative member of Unpublished/Printed
Editions; co-founded Fluxus and Happenings; wrote performance and graphic notations for theatre, music, and non-plays; and
produced and created paintings, sculpture, films and the large graphics series 7.7.73. Higgins received numerous grants and
prizes in support of his many endeavors.

Born Richard Carter Higgins in Cambridge, England, March 15, 1938, Higgins studied at Columbia University, New York (where
he received a bachelors degree in English, 1960), the Manhattan School of Printing, New York, and the New School of Social
Research, 1958-59, with John Cage and Henry Cowell. He attended Cage's composition class, where he met George Brecht, Allan
Kaprow, Al Hansen and other future Fluxus artists. In 1958 Hansen and Higgins formed the New York Audio Visual Group, which
was one of the groups to develop the concept of Happenings. The following year Higgins in association with Richard Maxfield,
another of Cage's students, presented
Stacked Deck, one of the earliest multi-media performances. Higgins also helped Kaprow put together his first New York happening
18 Happenings in 6 Parts that same year. Moreover, he also participated in the series of performances at George Maciunas' AG Gallery in 1961.

Higgins married artist Alison Knowles in 1960. They traveled extensively in Europe from 1962-63 to establish contacts and
soak up the artistic atmosphere. They occasionally collaborated on Fluxus performances, but mostly kept their art separate,
consulting and advising each other when necessary. Their twin daughters Hannah and Jessica were born in 1964. After their
1970 divorce, Higgins and Knowles maintained friendly relations and shared residences. They later remarried in 1984, mostly
for financial reasons and convenience.

In 1961 Higgins co-founded Fluxus with Maciunas and others when that same year Maciunas began his Fluxus press. Maciunas wanted
to publish a series of anthologies of very new and avant-garde art based on La Monte Young's
An Anthology, which Maciunas had designed and produced. He proposed publishing an anthology of Higgins entire life's work. However, Higgins
thought the publication would be too large for commercial publication. They agreed instead to include everything Higgins wrote,
composed or invented between April 13, 1962 and April 13, 1963 (Thomas Jefferson's birthday). Since Maciunas was taking too
long, Higgins decided to publish the work himself. Thus, Higgins founded Something Else Press in 1964. Its first publication
was his Jefferson's Birthday/Postface, two books bound back to back.

A Fluxus work by definition must be cheap and mass-producible. However, Higgins' press published experimental literature in
high-quality trade formats with remarkable design features intended for commercial mainstream publication. It was the first
publishing house in the United States to devote itself to "artists books." Higgins also published the
Something Else Newsletter, 1966-1973 and operated the Something Else Gallery, 1966-69, which in 1966 showed the first exhibit of concrete poetry in
the United States.

John Cage's philosophy of integrating art and life influenced Higgins' own artistic and theoretical ideas. Higgins' important
concept of "intermedia," stated in 1965, is a direct outgrowth of Cage's ideas. Higgins identified Happenings and contemporary
experiments in theatre and the visual arts as arts that "fall between media."

Higgins hired Barbara Moore and Emmett Williams as editors for Something Else Press. Williams replaced Moore when she went
on maternity leave in 1966, and remained there until both he and Higgins moved to California in 1970, Higgins to teach at
California Institute of the Arts. Williams' subsequent involvement with the press would be based more on their personal relationship.
But, their friendship grew increasingly strained until they broke off relations entirely in 1975, over a property dispute.
They reconciled a few years later. Jan Herman took over as director of Something Else Press in 1973, when Higgins left to
tend to personal and financial problems. The press went bankrupt the following year.

In 1971, Higgins settled in West Glover, Vermont, near Stinehour Press which has been called "the finest letterpress book
printer in North America." The presence of Stinehour influenced what and how Higgins published. Higgins founded Unpublished
Editions in 1972 as an offshoot of Something Else Press when Herman rejected Amigo for publication. Unpublished Editions was
a hybrid between the traditional small press and an artists' cooperative. Its members included Higgins, Knowles, Cage, Philip
Corner, Geoffrey Hendricks, Jackson Mac Low, Pauline Oliveros, and later, Jerome Rothenberg. It was renamed Printed Editions
in 1978 and discontinued in 1985.

In 1974 Higgins had a nervous breakdown. He recuperated at Silver Hill Sanitarium for several months. The breakdown was caused
by a combination of many factors: financial difficulties due to the renovation of his Vermont home, and personal problems,
including a long bout with alcoholism and an increasingly problematic relationship with Eugene Williams, Emmett's son. The
breakdown was precipitated by severe loneliness during his DAAD grant stay in Berlin. His lodgings were in an old castle on
the outskirts of town, away from his friends and most other DAAD recipients. He became painfully lonely, had little money
and drank heavily. He was forced to leave the program early, but later returned in 1981.

Higgins has had long-term relationships with both Eugene Williams in the early to mid 1970s and Bryan McHugh from the mid
1980s to the 1990s. Higgins' homosexuality is most notably illustrated in his books
Amigo,
For Eugene in Germany and
Of Celebration of Morning and his many poetry contributions for gay magazines. His writings about homosexuality virtually ceased in the early 1980s
after the commercial failure of
Of Celebration of Morning and his remarriage to Knowles.

When Higgins' health improved, he entered graduate studies in English at New York University, 1975-1979. He received a master
of arts degree in 1977. Higgins' studies led to his discovery of old visual poetry. His masters thesis was refined into his
first scholarly publication,
George Herbert's Pattern Poems: in their Tradition, 1977, which became the foundation for his research on
Pattern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature, 1987. Higgins attempted to enter New York University's Ph.D. program, but aborted the idea when he failed all of his qualifying
exams in 1979.

When Higgins' financial problems became acute again in 1980, he moved from his large house in Vermont, with its indoor swimming
pool, and bought and renovated a church in Barrytown, New York. Among his neighbors was George Quasha, publisher of Station
Hill Press, who published, among others, Robert Kelly and Jackson Mac Low. Higgins found his new home small, but adaptable
to his needs. From 1980-1983 he published many collections of scores including
Piano Album and
Sonata for Prepared Piano. Higgins also completed his DAAD fellowship in Berlin from 1981-1982.

From the 80's to his death Higgins spent much of his time writing scholarly bibliographies and theoretical discourses. Upon
Higgins' return from Germany he delved into the subject of pattern poetry, which preoccupied him for over twenty years. His
most intensive research occurred from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. Higgins' involvement with pattern poetry culminated
in 1986-1987 with the publication of the pattern poetry issue of Visible Language, which Higgins edited, and his book
Pattern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature. He also attended the Wolfenbüttel Conference (1987) on pattern poetry as an expert in the field.

Higgins remained active throughout the 1990s. Among his many projects, he edited and annotated Charles Doria's translation
of Giordano Bruno's
On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas, 1991 and wrote
Modernism Since Postmodernism, 1997. Higgins died October 26, 1998 in Quebec City, Canada.

Several catalogers have worked on various aspects of the collection, including Higgins himself. Michel Oren compiled a preliminary
inventory, Sept 1991-June 1992. The document he produced was not incorporated into this finding aid, because it no longer
reflected the box organization subsequently created. In July 1992, Higgins specified the series arrangement utilized in this
finding aid and interfiled some of Series I, II and III. Jocelyn Gibbs, from January-May 1993 finished most of the remaining
preliminary organization with assistance from Natalia Costea. Gibbs also completed physical processing and made finding aid
notes for Series I, A-H and most of Series II. Lynda Bunting, from May 1993-January 1994, completed physical processing of
Series I, II, and all of Series III, IV, and V. She also wrote the finding aid by incorporating Gibbs's notes with her own.
In November 1993, Higgins worked directly with Bunting in order to interfile the recently received supplement and to identify
unknown items.

Separated Material

Books and Journal issues

Circa 118 items were transferred to the Getty Research Library for accessioning and cataloging 6 Mar 1996. A few titles had
multiple copies and others were duplicates of items already in the Library.

Higgins acquired from various sources books with pattern poetry examples (49 microfilm titles on 40 reels). Most of these
books are rare, a few being perhaps the only copies in the United States. The reels, some of which contain more than one monograph,
were transferred to the library. Following is a list of titles:

The Dick Higgins collection extensively documents Higgins' literary, performance, music, artistic and personal activities
from 1972 to 1993, with some correspondence with family members, lawyers and accountants dated as early as 1960. Higgins'
early Fluxus, Happenings and Something Else Press publishing activities are not as well represented. Most of that material
from ca.1957-1971 is now housed at Archive Sohm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

This archive consists primarily of carbons of Higgins' letters. Written in a frank and open style, the letters contain many
artistic and personal insights into his numerous endeavors. Attached to his letters are many responses and, in some cases
extensive exchanges with Fluxus, Mail art and Art and Language artists, Concrete and Sound poets and New Music composers,
and small press publishers and poets. Thus, the correspondence includes many art "pieces" and manuscripts sent to Higgins
as gifts or for comment.

The archive contains a substantial quantity of Higgins' works in original manuscript form, some with annotations and correspondence,
and also includes works rejected by Higgins. Additionally housed is production material on 26 of Higgins' 45 published books
from Something Else Press, Unpublished/Printed Editions and elsewhere, along with books by four other authors (two at Something
Else Press and two others for Emmett Williams and Robert Filliou) and one killed project. Many of his earlier books, ephemeral
publications and other works may be found in the Getty Research Institute's Jean Brown archive (Special Collections accession
no. 890164), as well as the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection and the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete
and Visual Poetry. The collection also has a small amount of miscellaneous personal papers and extensive research and correspondence
files accumulated by Higgins for his publication
Pattern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature, 1987.

Arrangement note

The archive is organized in 5 series:
Series I. Correspondence;
Series II. Works;
Series III. Books;
Series IV. Personal;
Series V. Pattern Poetry.

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Topics

Art, American--20th century

Arts--Experimental methods

Avant-garde (Aesthetics)

Concrete poetry

Fluxus (Group of artists)

Happening (Art)

Music--20th century

Performance art--United States

Poetry, Modern--20th century

Publishers and publishing--United States

Small presses--United States

Genres and Forms of Material

Artists' books--United States--20th century

Drawings (visual works)--20th century

Intermedia--20th century

Mail art--20th century

Photographic prints--20th century

Photographs, Original

Poems--20th century

Scores--20th century

Contributors

Adler, Jeremy D.

Andersen, Eric

B., Mats, 1951-

Benjamin, Jerry

Boyd, Don, 1934-

Brecht, George

Cage, John

Cook, Geoffrey

Cooper, Michael, 1930-

Corner, Philip

Ernst, Ulrich, 1944-

Filliou, Robert

Finlay, Ian Hamilton

Frank, Peter, 1950-

Friedman, Ken, 1949-

Hatherly, Ana

Hendricks, Geoffrey

Johnson, Ray, 1927-1995

Kempton, Karl

Klintberg, Bengt af, 1938-

Knowles, Alison

Kostelanetz, Richard

Mac Low, Jackson

Mahlow, Dietrich

McCaffery, Steve

Mew, Tommy

Moran, Robert, 1937-

Morris, Michael, 1942-

Morrow, Charlie

Nannucci, Maurizio, 1939-

Nations, Opal L.

Oliveros, Pauline, 1932-

Pedersen, Knud, 1925-

Peters, Robert, 1924-

Phillips, Michael Joseph

Polkinhorn, Harry

Porter, Bern, 1911-2004

Printed Editions

Rypson, Piotr

Sarenco, 1945-

Sohm, Hanns, 1921-

Something Else Press

Tóth, Gábor, 1950-

Unpublished Editions (Firm)

Vautier, Ben, 1935-

Vostell, Wolf, 1932-1998

Williams, Emmett

Williams, Eugene, 1955-

Williams, Jonathan, 1929-2008

Container List

Series I.
Correspondence,1953-1994

Physical Description:
54.0 linear feet
36 boxes

Scope and Content Note

This series consists primarily of letters, but also contains printed ephemera, mail art, manuscripts, performance instructions,
compositions, artists' books, drawings, and photographs of individuals, performance, and art work. Types of correspondence
include letters about intimate personal matters, the Fluxus movement, performances, concrete and pattern poetry, and music.
Files are arranged alphabetically by correspondent with miscellaneous correspondence at the end of each alpha letter. Material
and correspondence for performances (often referred to as "gigs") is generally filed alphabetically by city or institution.

Correspondence with discussions of
Fantastic Architecture, and about Douglas Heubler and Filliou, 30 items.

Baroni, Vittore (Italian mail artist),ca. 1987

Scope and Content Note

1 mail art piece.

Beaudoin, Kenneth,1977

Scope and Content Note

2 items, including a collage.

Beers, John d',1992

Scope and Content Note

contains a copy of "The Oral History of Anarchy."

Bell, Michael (visual poet), , , ,1974-1979 1983 1986 1988-1989

Scope and Content Note

includes personal correspondence, with one long frank personal letter to Bell from Dick Higgins about Emmett and Eugene Williams,
and original Bell drawings on cardboard for Erotikon, ca. 40 items.

Below, Peter (Mixed Media & Edition; video artist),1978

Scope and Content Note

5 letters, 1 postcard, mail art.

Belt, Mike (stamp artist and poet),1976-1978

Scope and Content Note

includes 7 photographs by Belt, Dick Higgins's chronology of his life from 1966-1976 (30 Jun 1976), mailart and postcards,
ca. 56 items.

Benamou, Michel (Center for 20th Century Studies, University of Wisconsin),1978-1983

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence regarding Dick Higgins guest artist appointment at the Center, 1977, and involvement in seminars on postmodern
art, ca. 73 items, 1976-1978 [bulk 1976]. Benjamin, Jerry (performance artist and poet): letters regarding Dick Higgins scripts
performed by other artists, including 1982 Los Angeles performance of "Stacked Deck" with many written descriptions of cast,
rehersals and stage set (designed by Kaprow), a drawing of the stage set (1981-1982) and photocopied contact sheets from the
performance, and one performed by Rachel Rosenthal, 1980; view of L.A. artists performance scene, 1978-1980; photo of Dick
Higgins and Benjamin by Judith Hoffberg, ca. 70 items.

includes correspondence about publishing and printing projects of Boyd's artists books; leather "piece" by Boyd for Dick Higgins,
1975; 3 mailart postcards, one oil on cardboard; short Dick Higgins descriptions of his biography and Intermedia, 14 Nov 1977;
and photographs of Boyd and his family; ca. 67 items.

includes 2 versions of article Dick Higgins wrote on her paintings and Dick Higgins notes, ca. 33 items.

Carrión, Ulises (Dutch writer and performance artist, who runs Other Books and So),1976-1978

Scope and Content Note

24 items.

Carruth, Hayden (poet),1975-1981

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence regarding personal matters and writings, including letter from Carruth where he talks of his love for poetry
and sorrow at not succeeding in music ("I loved music more than poetry") and his difficulty reading his poetry in public,
6 Dec 1980; and mss of sonnet hundred different ways (by Carruth?), 45 items.

contains correspondence about working of one of the most important small press organizations, difficulties of small press
editors and publishers and politics of small press world, 1974-1979, 1981, 1987-1988 [bulk 1975-1978]; many newsletters and
other notices, scattered #s 1974-1990.

Cowell, Sidney (Mrs. Henry Cowell),1974-1987

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence regarding Henry Cowell, composer, teacher of Dick Higgins, also includes printed ephemera for Cowell symposium,
1986, and information about Cowell book for SEP, "new music resources."

contains extensive correspondence 1958-1969 (see also Bigelow correspondence, Box 4), letters about Dick Higgins father's
death and estate, 1970-1988, undated and Dick Higgins mother's death and estate, 1991. Also includes photographs and original
Dick Higgins score.

Box 9

DON-E, includes:

Doria, Charles (poet & critic), ,1978 1983-1991 [bulk]

Scope and Content Note

includes correspondence regarding Bruno book, small book and poetry mss. See also Series III, Box 63, for correspondence about
Bruno translation and Series V-B, Box 77, for pattern poetry correspondence.

Correspondence, photographs. See Dick Higgins letter to her about his father, 26 Aug 1964.

Higgins, Dick,1968-1973

Scope and Content Note

Extensive material includes correspondence and papers for 1970 divorce from Alison Knowles; miscellaneous correspondence and
information on his property in Vermont; programs of Dick Higgins events and performances; and photographs.

Correspondence, also includes postcards, ephemera, and photographs, ca. 70 items.

Johnson, Ray, , ,ca. 1965 1969-1970 1975-1992

Scope and Content Note

Contains personal correspondence, original drawings and watercolors by Johnson, and photocopied drawings and poems, and a
heavily annotated letter by Bill Wilson to
Arts magazine about Tillim's article "The Mythical History of Modern Art," ca. 100 items.

Includes performance script with annotations by MacClennan and printed ephemera, ca. 40 items.

Maciunas, George,1974-1978

Scope and Content Note

ca. 15 items.

Mac Low, Jackson (poet, composer, performance artist),1975-1986

Scope and Content Note

Includes dialogue about Dick Higgins's use of "exemplificative" categories (1976), correspondence regarding Unpublished/Printed
Editions, and ms for "Phone Poems." Also contains performance instructions for "Musicwords," "A Vocabulary Gatha for Pete
Rose," and "A Notated Vocabulary for Eve Rosenthal," all signed and dated by the artist, ca. 130 items.

Box 21

MAH-MCC, includes:

Mahlow, Dietrich (German art historian and curator),1984-1993

Scope and Content Note

Extensive correspondence, ca. 150 items.

Mallander, J.O. (Finnish artist),1981-1984

Scope and Content Note

Includes printed ephemera and a photograph of "To the Pure Land III," 1984, ca. 24 items.

Includes photographs of Dick Higgins by Nurenberg taken during a 1984 interview and some correspondence relating to Nurenberg's
interview with Bern Porter, ca. 88 items (see also Porter, Box 26).

Ohff, Heinz (Berlin art critic), ,1976-1977 1981

Scope and Content Note

9 items.

Oldenburg, Claes, ,1966-1967 1981

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence and invoices regarding "The store" book, and sale of 3 Oldenburg works owned by Dick Higgins.

Oliveros, Pauline (composer),1974-1992

Scope and Content Note

Includes correspondence regarding personal matters, book business (mostly about
Software for the People), printed ephemera and performance script of "Portrait of Richard C. Higgins," 1988. Also includes correspondence, board
of trustees meeting notes, budget reports and announcements for the Pauline Oliveros Foundation, ca. 1/3 record storage box.

Olmsted, Robert (editor of Northwoods Press),1975-1976

Scope and Content Note

9 letters which document tension between Olmsted and Dick Higgins on how a small press should be run.

Oren, Michele (art historian), , , ,1978-1979 1983 1986 1992

Scope and Content Note

Includes one letter by Dick Higgins clarifying his problems with Maciunas in 1965 (22 Aug 1979), ca. 25 items.

Padín, Clemente (Uruguan writer), ,1976-1978 1982-1983

Scope and Content Note

Includes theoretical dialogues on semiotics and the revolutionary aspects of art, and some about his imprisonment, ca. 35
items.

Contains correspondence about fluxus artists and events, especially "Excellent 1992" and "A La Carte" (for more see Copenhagen
trip 1992), each others work and some about personal matters, ca. 117 letters.

Peters, Robert (poet and performance artist), ,1983-1989 1991-1993

Scope and Content Note

Extensive intimate personal correspondence and letters documenting, among other things, theoretical concepts of their writings
and Peters's performance works. Also contains material relating to Peters's "The Blood Countess," including ms typescript
with annotations entitled "Countess E. Bathory," performance script and three photographs of Peters as the "The Blood Countess"
(ca. 1985). Other items includes 4 photographs of Peters in costume (1988) and poetry typescripts with annotations, and
Electrum no. 37 (Fall 1985), ca. 125 items total.

Extensive correspondence, including 1 letter by Sarenco which corrects the origin of the term "poesia visiva" (29 Oct 1986),
and other letters documenting a dispute with Gino di Maggio; and
Factotum-Art no. 2 (1978); ca. 85 items.

Correspondence mostly regarding Sohm Archive, to which Dick Higgins sold a portion of his archive, and some about Fluxus artists,
ca. 126 letters.

Something Else Press, , ,1965-1969 1971-1978 1980

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence, most about Something Else Press bankruptcy, also includes 6 page "Overview of the Status" of the press, financial
statements, inventories, 1973-1974 catalog, and misc., 5 folders(see also Series III, Box 42, Finances).

Contains correspondence about performances and pattern poetry, photographs of performances including "KEP/Picture/ Read on
Me!", "I Said and I Wash My Feet," which Tóth termed action poetry, "A Little Extension to the Art," and 14 other photos.
Also printed ephemera and small conceptual works, ca. 110 items (see also The Kitchen file for important letter [18 Oct 1980]
and Series V-B, Box 78).

Tragtenberg, Livio (Brazilian composer), ,1983-1987 1990

Scope and Content Note

Includes photograph of "O. de A. do Brasil" performance and printed ephemera, 28 items.

Extensive correspondence with a substantial quantity of handwritten letters from Vostell documenting the exchange of ideas,
collaborations and personal matters. Also contains material relating to Vostell's work "Technological Oak Tree" (aka T.O.T.)
made for and owned by Higgins; "Untitled" photo of a tree (received by Dick Higgins 20 Jun 1972); a photo of Vostell and Dali,
ca. 1980; an original drawing, 1985; 10 slides from Museo Vostell of Vostell's site and environmental work, 1978; partial
photocopy copy of Ben Vautier's "excommunication" of Vostell and Joseph Beuys from Fluxus and Higgins's written response,
1982; correspondence regarding Higgins's donation to Museo Vostell and explanation of his work "David"; photocopied project
instructions; mail art postcards; and much printed ephemera; ca. 1/3 record storage box.

Contains personal and other correspondence regarding Something Else Press bankruptcy (1974), their 1975 dispute, some relating
to Fluxus artists, including one letter written subsequent to Higgins's visit to the Sohm Archive which mentions that Dick
Higgins could "find no mention anywhere that Maciunas accepted Beuys as part of Fluxus," 27 Mar 1982, and 9 page letter from
Dick Higgins describing in intimate detail his nervous breakdown, 19 Nov 1974. Also performance script "How to perform Emmett
Williams' Four Directional Song of Doubt" by Dick Higgins, 1984 (see Special Collections accession no. 890164 for original
work), 7 photographs of typesetting, and original graphic "Portrait of a Lady," 1974, by Ann Williams, ca. 1/4 record storage
box.

Series contains manuscripts of poetry, essays and music compositions by Higgins with foul matter and some correspondence with
editors, arranged alphabetically by title. The manuscripts are accompanied by notes regarding where Higgins submitted them
for publication and where they were published. About 10% of the manuscripts have several versions and notes regarding composition.
In some cases, Series III should be consulted for other manuscript versions and full production material. Rejected manuscripts,
filed alphabetically in box 41, are works by Higgins that he thought unworthy of publication. Many of these files contain
rewrites, illustrating Higgins attempt to correct or salvage the work. This series also includes a partial set of Something
Else Newsletters and two personal journals, 1966, 1973, which include notes and versions for poems and other works.

Box 37

A-E

Folder of bio-bibliography, articles about Higgins, conversations with publisher

abstand zum abstand veb; in Everyone Has Sher Favorite

Alan Sondheim and the Knee-Jerk School of Criticism

Scope and Content Note

ms, correspondence to Charles Bernstein and Kostelanetz

the answer; in
Clown War

Anti-Tenure campaign

Appearances and Disappearances; in Everyone Has Sher Favorite

assignments; in
Something Else Yearbook

The Autobiography of the Moon

Scope and Content Note

See also Series IV, Box 65.

Bande Cordier's Circular Canon

Scope and Content Note

Two copies of
Ear Magazine 3, no.6 (Sep/Oct 1977)

being in a corner of a corner; in
Clown War

Boris Blastoffs last dance; in
Modular Poems

Carmen

Cat Alley

Scope and Content Note

Ms, book, correspondence.

Catastrophe; in
New Poems

Celestials

Scope and Content Note

For Bengt af Klintberg

Cent mots des clohes a noixes; in
Borbarigmi

City with all the Angles

Scope and Content Note

See also Series IV, Box 43.

Cito's song

Classic Plays

a comedy

Conceptual Forks; in
Ear Magazine

Consellation #11; in
Poems, Plain & Fancy

A Dance for Maureen Conner; in Everyone Has Sher Favorite

Death and the nickle cigar

Dé-coll/age (magazine)

Scope and Content Note

No. 2 (Nov 1962) with Dick Higgins's "The Broadway Opera," with a letter from Jon Hendricks.

Deep summer together poem (killed project, but in Everyone Has Sher Favorite)

Mss, correspondence, 2 photographs of the 1977 Naples exhibition and one photo of ceramic work.

Epikall Quest

Scope and Content Note

Original ms.

Everyone has Sher Favorite (His or Hers)

Scope and Content Note

Ms and cover proof (see also Box 81, for cover art).

Exemplative Manifesto

Scope and Content Note

Mss "Exemplative Works of Art," correspondence, production, mss partial, see "2 essays written on May 16, 1976," in next folder
and Mac Low correspondence, Box 20, for interesting dialogue about this work (see also Box 47B for title negative).

Exemplative Works of Art; in
Dialectic of Centuries

Box 38

F-H

"Fight"

Five Myths of Postmodernism

Scope and Content Note

3 mss, with corrections by Billy Name, Harry Polkinhorn and Lisa Null, first draft and final version of ms, correspondence.

Five Traditions of Art History, an Essay

Scope and Content Note

Poster.

Fluxus: Theory and Reception

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence includes ms comments by Ann Williams, Knowles and Ken Friedman, and mss.

Series contains production material in the form of correspondence, manuscripts, proofs, galleys, repros, dummies, drawings,
photographs and negatives for illustrations (especially for
Of Celebration of Morning and
Variations on a Natural Theme), and jacket and cover designs, organized chronologically by publication date. Most notably documented are
Of Celebration of Morning, 1980,
Pattern Poetry: a Guide to an Unknown Literature, 1987, and the translation of Giordano Bruno's
On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas (1591), 1991. Series II should be consulted simultaneously for different versions of manuscripts, as well as some production
material. Financial papers relating to Something Else Press (1972-1974) and Printed Editions (1978-1985) are filed in this
series.

Mss and correspondence, most in reference to submitting the individual poems to publications, other correspondence with Stinehour
Press, which made an Christmas card edition of "the snowflakes of giordano bruno," 1977. Short letters to Mac Low and Rothenberg
regarding Bruno, and to McCaffery about the relationship of "paraSITism" to Derrida, 1977, and letters regarding "meta" to
McCaffery, Kostelanetz and Hassan, who inspired the poem, 1977. Also galley, page proofs, dummy, bound signatures with jacket,
jacket design with negatives and specs, paperback jacket design.

Mss, illus and captions, production correspondence, mailing lists, permissions, corrected copy (see also Series I, Box 30,
SUNY Press, for more correspondence; and Series V for photocopied monographs and articles of pattern poetry used for writing
and illustrating Higgins's book, various mss versions by language and extensive correspondence regarding research).

Box 59

Pattern Poetry,
1987

Scope and Content Note

First draft, and preliminary roughs of bibliography.

Box 60

Pattern Poetry,
1987

Scope and Content Note

Dummy.

Box 61

Pattern Poetry,
1987

Scope and Content Note

Index (3x5 cards).

Box 62

A Dialectic of Centuries,
1978

Scope and Content Note

Index (3x5 cards).

Box 63

Bruno, Giordano,
On the Composition of Images, Signs and Ideas, Translated by Chareles Doria, ed. and annotated by Higgins, New York: Willis, Locker and Owen (1591),
1991

Research and study materials accumulated by Higgins in preparation for his book
Pattern Poetry: Guide to an Unknown Literature, 1987, a checklist and bibliography of pattern poems before 1900. The series is arranged in two subseries, V-A. Research
Materials and V-B. Correspondence. See Series III for book production material.

Series V-A
Research materials,ca. 1976-ca. 1991

Physical Description:
4.0 linear feet

Scope and Content Note

Contains mostly photocopies of monographs and articles by pattern poets and scholars in the field, with some annotations,
bibliographic and otherwise, by Higgins and colleagues. It also contains photos, transparencies and photocopies of text reproductions
with coordinating captions; repros; ms versions given to scholars for proofing, most with annotations and corrections; and
some correspondence about pattern poetry searches; microfilm and permissions requests; and index cards used by Higgins for
bibliographic notations. Organization follows closely that of the book, which is by language. Separate poet/author files exist
for those with substantial material, and are filed alphabetically within the language. Consult Appendix A for microfilm reels,
which Higgins acquired from various libraries and institutions.

Materials include general, early Dick Higgins's draft of Polish section, Fall 85, addenda with Rypson ms "Homo Quadratus in
Labyrintho," 5 folders of correspondence and general. Some correspondence with Rypson throughout (see also V-B and Series
I, Boxes 28-29).

Represents Dick Higgins's research on pattern poetry since 1986, when ms was closed, until 1991. Organization closely follows
that of the book.

Series V-B
Correspondence,ca. 1978-ca. 1993

Physical Description:
1.0 linear feet

Scope and Content Note

Two boxes of correspondence between Higgins and scholars, filed alphabetically by correspondent. Types of letters include
inquiries, search statuses, theoretical descriptions and dialogues about pattern poems. Notable correspondents are: Jeremy
Adler, Willard Bohm, Geoffrey Cook, Erik Dal, Charles Doria, Ulrich Ernst, Bill Fetterman, Herbert Franke, Ana Hatherly, Gerald
Janecek, Kalanath Jha, Istvan Kilián, Karl Otto, Max Patrick, Piotr Rypson, David Seaman, Harold Segel. Bulk of correspondence
is between 1983-1987 when Higgins intensively conducted his research and book production activities. Post-1987 dates usually
contain references to loose ends and poems later discovered, which were thought to be of interest to Higgins and others. See
also Series I individual files for more correspondence relating to pattern poetry.

Box 77

A-J, includes:

Adler, Jeremy (Goethe scholar, poet), ,1978 1982-1991

Scope and Content Note

Includes some letters about
Visible Language pattern poetry issue and Wolfenbüttel show and conference (1987), and Adler mss
The Electric Alphabet and
Towards the City. Fragments I-VII, ca. 150 letters (see also Series I, Box 1).

Includes much correspondence about Jha essay in book and Visible Language issue, MLA convention which Jha attended 1984, and
ms "Sanskrit Citrak_vyas and the Western Pattern Poems," for VII World Sanskrit Conference, 1984 (see also Series I, New Wilderness
Foundation for overseas travel reimbursement controversy).

20 letters, includes 1 that describes why Patrick did not recommend Dick Higgins for a Guggenheim fellowship.

Poniz, Denis (Slovenian scholar and poet), ,1977-1978 1983

Scope and Content Note

14 letters.

Pozzi, Giovanni (Medieval Latin literature), ,1977-1978 1983-1985

Scope and Content Note

Includes Stumenti Critici X, no.31 (Oct 1976), 20 letters.

Rypson, Piotr (Slavic pattern poetry), , ,1979 1984-1989 1991-1992

Scope and Content Note

Extensive correspondence with many long letters by Rypson regarding pattern poetry, especially on Polish and labyrinths,
Visible Language issue, including one by Rypson with critical comments on the finished product, 17 Jul 1986, and Wolfenbüttel conference.
Also amusing explanation of how "sie" is used in the Polish language with poem, 10 Jun 1985, untitled poem by Rypson, 24 May
1985, and Obraz s_owa exhibition catalog, 1987, and photocopied book, 1989, ca. 120 letters (see also Series I, Boxes 28-29).